The present invention relates to a door transporting and mounting machine, and more particularly, to a machine which is not only capable of transporting a door to a desired complementary door frame location, but which is also capable of properly aligning a door relative to its complementary door frame for mounting thereto.
In the building and construction industry, it is well known that a door must be properly aligned and mounted relative to a surrounding door frame, in order to provide free and uninhibited pivoting movement thereof. This door mounting procedure is commonly and generically referred to as "hanging" a door in a complementary door frame that has previously been "set" in a wall structure. Any mis-alignment of the door and door frame can create binding of cooperating hinge elements and associated hinge pins which mount the door and door frame to each other. For this reason, skilled personnel are most often used in mounting or "hanging" doors relative to door frames. While carpenters are generally thought to be the most skilled in properly aligning and mounting doors within complementary door frames, in certain instances, skilled iron-workers have also been utilized in the same capacity. Regardless of the type of tradesmen involved, doors must be correctly set and mounted or "hung" in their complementary door frames for the proper operation of the doors.
Prior to mounting in a door frame a door must be carried or wheeled to the desired site and then lifted in position to allow the cooperating hinges on the door and door frame to be assembled together. In the typical door mounting assembly, three spaced and cooperating interlocking hinges and associated hinge pins are used for mounting a door relative to a door frame.
Where the door is made of wood or pressed wood fibers, for example, it is relatively light weight and thus can be easily lifted as it is mounted or "hung" within a door frame. Yet, even light weight doors are bulky and cumbersome to handle. The weight and bulkiness of doors is substantially magnified where doors are made of metal, such as heavy metal doors used in commercial installations and in the construction of prisons. It is quite apparent that some lifting and supporting mechanism must be used to position and assist in the mounting of such heavy doors relative to a complementary door frame. Such mechanisms have included hand operated and powered lift trucks and the like. However, even with such mechanisms, it has been difficult to properly align such heavy doors in order that they can be correctly mounted or "hung" in a door frame. Further, the transportation of the doors and the subsequent lifting of the doors for door frame mounting has required several independent and time consuming steps, without assuring proper door alignment for the correct mounting or "hanging" of doors.